[IC] Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine was silently breathing out in some level of relief when the lookout turned and moved away. Her exhale was cut short with the shock of feeling the thud of Arinette against the tree trunk. Every muscle in Sabine's body tensed up in surprise.

The impact loosed some kind of dust or pollen from the branches above. Sabine's attempt to calm down only tensed her up again when she felt a dry itch at the back of her throat. She held her breath.

The time was up. Sabine barely sent the signal forth to Ahnasha. Her ring went cold to tell her that the enchantment had worn off.

The short distraction did not make the itch go away. Neither did trying to swallow it down. Sabine's quietest ever attempt to clear her throat was to no avail either.

Sabine held on for long enough for Do'rhajul and Arinette's dialogue to progress for another short while. She grit her teeth and internally screamed for the pair to walk away. She just needed a few more seconds. A few more seconds of holding her empty breath. Her lungs burned.

A reflex in Sabine's windpipe gave out just as Ahnasha placed the book where it was needed.

She covered her face and coughed once quietly through her nose.

[EliteCommander]

Ahnasha did not need to get inside the tent, and indeed, she did not believe she would be able to even if she tried. The journal did not even need to be hidden too well inside, as long as it was in the tent. Slowly, she reached into her bag and put her hand to the book. Every motion she made had to be precise and deliberate to keep herself from making any mistakes. The sounds of crickets in the air at least overshadowed the faint noise of the book brushing against her leather pouch.

The Orc looked occupied with his snack, but he was still glancing around the camp. Ahnasha kept her eye close on him, waiting for him to look in a different direction. She turned the book on its side and lined it up with the small gap between the tent's flaps. With immense concentration, she applied just the smallest amount of telekinesis to pull apart the tent's flaps so she could slide in the book. Despite only requiring a small amount of magic, the fact that she was having to maintain her invisibility at the same time made it immensely more difficult. He form glimmered and distorted, to the point that she might be noticeable if someone happened to be looking right at her. Nevertheless, she continued to slide the book in until it was finally inside and she could release it. Withdrawing her hand from the tent, her eyes darted around the camp to determine if anyone had noticed. She did not see anything suspicious, even with the Orc, so it seemed likely that she had succeeded. The only task that remained was her escape, which she would need to accomplish quickly. After that exertion, she was feeling magically drained.

Arinette reached her hand back to grab a hold of the staff secured to her back, but with Do'rhajul's claws digging into her throat, she did not attempt to draw it. "Unhand me you...mangy cat. God or no, I'm still more powerful than all of you put together."

"And would that power keep me from bleeding you out right here and now?" Do'rhajul growled.

As he pressed harder against her neck, Arinette started to have to strain more to speak. For all of her apparent confidence, she did not appear to be able to hide some of the fear in her expression. "No...it wouldn't. And would you be able to...stop lord Vile from...punishing you?" She strained to say.

After a tense delay, Do'rhajul relented his grip enough to allow Arinette to take in a deep breath, though he still silently stared down Arinette. After catching her breath, she finally continued more calmly. "We can do it your way for now. If he'll be nothing but a benefit like you say, then we shouldn't have anything to worry about, right?"

With as heated as their argument had become, their voices had naturally raised along with it. For Arinette, their words drowned out Sabine's cough, but it was harder to say if Do'rhajul had been able to make it out distinctly. He was a lycan Khajiit, and therefore had a particularly acute sense of hearing. He did not react as if he had immediately identified what it was, but his ears twitched and he started to look up.

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine pressed her hand to her mouth. The sides of her neck and ears rushed with blood. She had been noticed. Her way of hiding was not quite the delicate invisibility Ahnasha used. It was a chameleon spell designed to blend her into her surroundings. If she did not move a muscle, it was possible that she would not be spotted. Possible. Do'rhajul was close enough to make out details.

Ahnasha's ring warmed. A second later and it stung with heat. Get out now. Get out immediately.

The only thing that Sabine could do if she knew she was spotted was to simultaneously raise a ward and activate the automatons. She would try if that happened. Whether she would have time for any of it to matter was unlikely.

Moments passed. They felt like minutes.

A small mountain breeze rustled the leaves behind her. She winced and channelled her magic.

[EliteCommander]

Ahnasha understood the warning, and with it, she was certainly in no mood to stick around. She needed to get out of camp, and the safest way appeared to be to go back the way she came. She still tried to stay silent, but she now knew that she had to be in a hurry. The Orc, if he was attentive and looking in her direction, would be able to see the distortion of her invisibility, but she just had to take the risk. To stay at this point would likely be even more dangerous.

To her relief, when Ahnasha had made her way beyond the tents and to some foliage she could use to obscure herself, she did not see anyone in pursuit when she turned back. The Orc seemed to be just as occupied with his snack as he had been before. She seemed to be in the clear, and could only hope that Sabine was having similar luck.

Do'rhajul had finally released his grip entirely on Arinette. Her anger had not died down, but she still took notice when the Khajiit directed his attention above them. His eyes narrowed as he stared intently into the tree's leaves. "Did you hear that? I could have swore..." He remarked with voice that trailed off as he started to take in the scents around him. "Something smells...off. Not right."

While Do'rhajul was seemingly unarmed, Arinette had her staff on her back, and she quickly reached for it.

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine lost her nerve.

The bough Do'rhajul stared at erupted in a blue light. It spread a ward below Sabine as she turned her efforts to the control rod. A few moments was all it took to cast the order to animate. Clicks and slides permeated the nearby cover as vaguely humanoid creatures made from orange metal sprung up with weapons for hands.

The spheres took long enough to ratchet into readiness for Do'rhajul and Arinette to do something about Sabine. She still had little in the way of an escape route. A familiar charge of altering magical power glowed behind the ward preceding an effort to transform into a raven once more.

[EliteCommander]

Do'rhajul's response was almost instant as soon as he saw the light above him. "TO ARMS!" He shouted, which quickly stirred the camp to life. They all appeared to be disciplined, and were quite quick to respond to Do'rhajul's order. While Do'rhajul himself was unarmed and had to rush back to grab a weapon, Arinette was ready to fight immediately.

Before all of the automatons could even be activated, Arinette used the power contained in the staff to unleash an exceptionally powerful burst of lightning against Sabine's ward. While the automatons would be charging in quickly, they had not planned for Sabine to be discovered in such close proximity to the enemy. They simply could not reach her in time to distract Arinette from attacking her.

The attention was not on Ahnasha, but she was also somewhat distant from Sabine. She needed to help and started to rush for Sabine, still under the cloak of invisibility, but it would take her even longer than the automatons to reach Sabine. Meesei had almost certainly given the order for the rest of the warriors to advance, but they would be the last to arrive.

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine shrieked with genuine fright at Arinette's magic. Her ward barely held. In the previous fight, she had been able to ward Arinette while braced on the ground and not splitting her own attention. Here, she was attempting to many spells at once.

The light of the ward contracted and winked out in the instant Sabine turned into a raven.

She had not cast the spell properly.

A black shape fluttered barely two metres from the branch before a flash of green imposed Sabine back into a Breton in mid air. She fell flat on the ground. The control rod bounced out of her hands. She turned her face up, pressed her eyes shut, held her hands up and shouted. "STOP! Please!"

The ground smelled of alchemy as a healing potion skin, ruptured from the fall, leaked from her bag.

Tears trickled from the corners of Sabine's eyes. "I give up."

Sabine knew she had no chance to fight her way out, even if it was just her and Arinette. She kept her eyes closed for fear of seeing the blow that would kill her, if and when it came.

[EliteCommander]

Arinette planted her foot firmly on Sabine's throat, hovering her staff just above Sabine's face. It glowed with a terrifying amount of magical power. However, she did not commit to the finishing blow, however much her angered expression showed that she wanted to. The others in the camp were arming and moving to her quickly, but the automatons were approaching faster. She saw the control rod that Sabine had dropped on the ground nearby, but she herself did not know how to use it. Instead, she telekinetically pulled it across the ground and over to Sabine.

"Stop them. Now!" Arinette ordered.

Ahnasha was getting close, but with the sudden, undeniably advantageous position that Arinette now had over Sabine, she was at a loss. Right now, the Breton was just a single motion away from executing Sabine. Even if Ahnasha was able to get close enough to use her daggers, would she even be able to stop her from landing a killing blow? She could summon a bow instead, but that would break her invisibility well-before she could nock an arrow. Would a single arrow even be enough to kill her? Now that Arinette was alerted, she could have a shield spell upon herself that might protect her. If Ahnasha did anything wrong, she could get both Sabine and herself killed.

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine's eyes and mouth shot open when Arinette stepped on her. She tried to protest only for a choked whistle to escape her mouth. She complied as well as she could with Arinette; she slammed her palm against the dirt until her fingers found the control rod. Rather than deactivate the Dwemer spheres one by one, Sabine did the quickest thing she could think to do. She directed them to move south away from the camp.

The order was in line with what Sabine put through the Ahnasha's ring. It burned once more. Leave immediately.

[EliteCommander]

Once Arinette saw that the automatons were turning away, her staff started to glow even brighter as she charged a spell through it. However, this was not a lethal attack, but rather a spell of magicka absorption, draining the magicka from Sabine and pulling it into the staff. At least in the short term, it would prevent Sabine from casting any spells.

This time, Ahnasha ignored Sabine's warning. In the distance, she could already hear the sounds of their reinforcements charging in from all around them. Ri'vashi had brought an overwhelming force, after all, so their approach was hardly subtle. The rest of the team form within the camp had risen from their bedrolls and had collected together in formation, with Yerig being the last to join them. Do'rhajul picked Sabine up to her feet and held a blade to her throat as they back up closer to their camp, next to one of the larger tents.

By the time their reinforcements were in sight, Ahnasha had found cover behind the nearest tree and conjured up a bow. They approached from three different angles, with warriors, mages, and transformed lycans on all sides. In the front of all of them were Ri'vashi, Meesei, and the rest of the pack. Meesei had cast a lightning form spell upon herself and was fully prepared to be the spearhead for the assault that would finally end this, but what Arinette shouted to them stopped her in her tracks.

"Not another step or we'll slit her throat!" The Breton shouted, gesturing to Sabine beside her, with Do'rhajul's blade firmly to her throat. It took Meesei only a few seconds to recognize the full gravity of the situation.

"Wait! STOP! Meesei commanded to their warriors in as loud of a voice as she could muster. For as much power as Meesei had, there was nothing she could do to stop Do'rhajul from executing Sabine if the word was given. Instead, she could only shout back her own threats. "Release her, now! We have you greatly outnumbered. Just...surrender. Let her go, and we will not hurt you. You have my word."

Arinette's gaze moved all around her at the lycans that now surrounded them. Even with her staff on their side, the rest of her team looked nervous. Even so, Arinette was not ready to relent. "I think not." She replied.

Do'rhajul huffed towards Arinette. "There are far too many, even for us." He muttered to her.

"Yes, I know." Arinette replied. Slowly, her staff began to glow once more, increasing steadily in intensity. Nearby, Ahnasha had an arrow nocked and was aimed straight at Do'rhajul's head. She could make the shot, and she knew it. She was close enough that it would be trivial, and he had not even noticed her. He was not wearing his helmet, so it would be simple to end his life right then and there, but she knew that it would not magically give Sabine a chance to escape. Even if Do'rhajul did not slit her throat, one of the others would before she could get far. For Ahnasha to loose her arrow would be for her to kill Sabine just as much as it would be to kill Do'rhajul. She was at a loss, but after only a few more moments her internal debate became meaningless.

While it was not without warning, the spell that Arinette used still seemed just as sudden and surprising. Just like their last encounter, there was a blinding flash of light, and when everyone regained the ability to see clearly, Arinette's team, Sabine, and even the tent they had been standing next to, were all gone.

For Sabine, the teleportation spell came with only a vague, somewhat disorienting sensation, almost like being dizzy. However, it lasted for only a few seconds before she could regain her bearings. Based on her surroundings, she was still in a High Rock forest, but there were no noticeable landmarks around. There were only trees and a few rocks. And of course, there was the blade still pressed to her neck.

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine continued to struggle for breath. Having her magicka sucked out of her all at once was as much chilling as it was nauseating. She could feel the familiar, taken-for-granted safety of her magic get replaced with a void. Any last vestiges of lucid thought in her mind were now replaced with the nightmarish reality she was in.

She could not have stopped herself wheezing in a breath and breaking into a coughing fit the instant Arinette moved her foot away. Do'rhajul's iron grip was all that kept her from stumbling to the ground after being picked up. The icy feeling of a blade at her throat made her tense up. She became a statue but for the rapid rising and falling of her chest.

Fendros and Janius burst out brandishing their own weapons. Their eyes glinted with shock behind their helmets when they saw Sabine.

They halted on orders. The exchange was short between Meesei and the enemy. Janius' head twitched from side to side to see each in Do'rhajul's team. Fendros felt he could put an arrow through the eye of any one of them. Both were caught in futility.

Sabine's face showed only pure fright. Her tears ran down her cheeks. And then the team teleported away.

There was silence.

The pack knew they would teleport away. Fendros and Janius froze in place, Fendros with his bow drawn and Janius with his guard up. It sank in slowly and painfully.

Fendros lowered his bow as his jaw quivered. He listed his head from side to side in denial before pitching his bow upon the ground in anger. It bounced a distance behind him. He stomped forward. "We can't let them get away with this!" He growled and spun around to the others. With spread arms he shouted through the gap the lower half of his chitin helmet afforded his mouth. "There has to be a way to follow them! They can't get away again!"

Janius was standing straight with his arms hanging limp. His axe and shield were held only barely in his fingers. "Fendros," Janius said only loud enough to make himself heard. He raised his hand and slowly lifted his visor with a creak. His mouth was slightly parted and his eyes were lined red. "They're gone," he stated. "She's...She's gone."

As if only now realising truth, Fendros' arms lost their energy. He glowered through his helmet at Janius. Nothing he could muster to say would prove Janius wrong. Fendros' eyes sunk and his breathing slowed.

Only then did he have a realisation. His head perked momentarily. "Ahnasha," he said softly. He half-turned and raised his voice. "Ahna!?"

---

Sabine remained frozen and breathing shallowly throughout the entire experience. Her eyes were open but she did not know where she was. With the knife still at her neck, she was too scared to think further on her situation, much less speak. She barely even noticed the smallest dregs of magicka flow back into her body naturally.

[EliteCommander]

Most of Arinette' team were disoriented at first upon teleporting, but quickly moved to secure the area once they had gained their bearings. They did not remain alert for attackers for too long, so wherever Arinette had taken them was likely quite far from their previous camp, even if it was still in High Rock.

One of the Orcs gripped his weapon tightly as he looked around the area. "Damn, so what'd we lose this time? Most of the camp isn't here."

"Saved the armory, at least." The other Orc twin added, gesturing to the collapsed tent nearby.

The Redguard conjurer spoke up after catching her breath. "What was their plan there? There were so many of them, but they revealed themselves before their main force came in, didn't they?"

"Actually, Do'rhajul sniffed her out. I don't know their plan." Arinette remarked as she positioned herself directly in front of Sabine. "But she does."

Arinette leaned in close to Sabine with a threatening scowl. "What was your plan, dog? Why were you there? Were you scouting us?"

---

Back at the site of the camp, Ahnasha emerged from her hiding place, bound bow in hand, as Fendros called for her. Although, she appeared to be at just as much of a loss as the rest of the pack. Kaleeth, and even Lorag, were dead silent with varying degrees of shock in their expression. Sabine was gone. She had not been killed, at least as far as they could see, but they had absolutely no way of knowing where they had gone. Ahnasha in particular could not help but to think back to the one and only time she had been captured by an enemy and the horrors she had experienced as a result. The idea that Sabine might experience the same was sickening to Ahnasha's core.

For Meesei, those thoughts had already broken her. She had spent her entire time waiting in fear of what might happen, and now those fears had become reality. "No, no no. This cannot...no..." She stammered, collapsing down to her hands and knees as she stared at the spot where Sabine had just been standing. "This cannot be happening..." Meesei broke down into tears as her words became less and less coherent. Her pack had seen her in such emotional distress before, but this was the first time she had allowed herself to fall from her stoic demeanor in front of others.

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine held her breath and looked back at Arinette. She was still terrified. She could not even perform the logic as to whether she should say anything or not. Her fear kept her silent. She closed her mouth and waited.

---

As soon as Ahnasha revealed herself, Fendros pulled off his helmet and hugged her suddenly. The embrace was short-lived as he took her by the shoulders. "Did you plant the book?" He asked frantically. "Do you know where they could have gone!?"

With both Meesei and Fendros clearly not in position to command, Janius turned wandered listlessly over to those remaining. "Ri'vashi," he said without lifting his eyes or his voice. "Please order a search of the camp. We need a moment."

With that, Janius went slowly to Kaleeth with his head low. He slid his axe into his belt along the way. While Janius was ostensibly going to check on her, he broke down as soon as he placed a gauntleted hand on her shoulder. Tears flowed from his shut eyes. He was not strong enough for this.

[EliteCommander]

Arinette gave Sabine only a few seconds to answer before following with a more forceful demand. Balling her hand into a fist, she gave Sabine two strong punches to the stomach. Arinette was not a terribly strong individual, but that did not mean she could not inflict pain with simple force.

"Answer me, dog! What were you doing at our camp? What was your plan?" Arinette demanded once more, though before Sabine could answer, she grabbed Sabine by the hair and lifted up her head so she could look her in the eye. She held her staff up in front of Sabine and spoke even more threateningly. "Do you see this? With the power in this staff, I can heal almost any wound. I kept myself from being disemboweled by your Champion using this. Do you know what that means? It means I can do almost anything to you without killing you. Now, answer me."

---

Ri'vashi found herself more shocked at Meesei's reaction than anything else, but for now, she followed Janius' lead and ordered a search of the camp. They had forced the enemy to flee quickly, so there was some possibility that they might find something useful.

When Fendros embraced Ahnasha, he would be able to feel her whole body shaking. "I planted the book in his tent, but...I don't know if he saw it, or took it with him. I just...don't know, about any of this. Sabine, she...they took her. I tried to get close enough to help, or get an angle on them, but it was too late. They were already too close to her."

Meesei was the one impacted most strongly by the event, and she lost any semblance of rationality. Instead is was replaced by a mix of pure anger and fear. She finally stood to her feet, her hands clenched tightly into fists. She bared her teeth, even as the tears streamed down her face. Her gaze settled on Ahnasha, the one person who had been close to Sabine during their mission. It did not make any real sense to blame her, but Meesei was far from being reasonable at the moment. "Why didn't you stop them? You were right there, you...you saw it happen. Why didn't you put an arrow in their heads when you had the chance? Why didn't you save her?!"

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine was hit hard enough to take the wind out of her lungs. She coughed and wheezed in a breath. She might have doubled over if Do'rhajul was not holding her up. Hair stuck to her face as Arinette pulled her face up.

The words gave Sabine flashes back to the state she found Ahnasha and Fendros in back in Black Marsh. She barely even remembered their torturer. She only remembered that he did horrible things to them. Things that stayed with them forever. Arinette could do those things to her.

Sabine mouthed something that did not make a sound on her vocal chords. She tried again. "Please..." She barely spoke louder than a mouse. "We did not plan to fight. We did not come to attack anyone."

She did not want to say what the plan was. She did not even know if it was a success.

---

Meesei's outburst caught Fendros' attention just as strongly. Not only because it was uncharacteristic for Meesei, but also because he thought for a moment she was referring to him and not Ahnasha. Fendros looked back at Meesei with silent astonishment for a long while.

This was what it took for Fendros to realise the impact of what had just happened. His efforts of cobbling a wall of anger and action that would never surmount their situation crumbled. His knees shook. He slowly emptied his lungs to little above nothing and panned his unfocussed eyes across the ground.

"The...the same reason you didn't," Fendros barely managed to string together.

The words felt cold. Colder than Meesei deserved. Fendros knew what it was like to know that his child was in danger. He knew the feeling well. Looking at Rhazii's face reminded him every time he saw it. Nothing he could say would placate Meesei. The thought put him into focus. He did the only thing he could think to do.

His helmet fell to the ground with a hollow thud. He took step after careful step towards Meesei. He was not aggressive or sympathetic. He did not even flinch. His only other movement was a ward prepared in his left hand. Unless Meesei cast magic he would be forced to ward away, he did not react to anything she said or did. He just closed the distance with a face as blank as the Dwemer automatons around them.

Then, when they were close enough, he embraced Meesei. He embraced her tightly.

"I won't let you be the stoic one," Fendros murmured in a pained monotone. "I won't let you. Not for this."

Fendros' words were clear enough. He had similar wrath when Rhazii's life was in danger. None of that gave him any further control, yet Meesei was there for him and Ahnasha those years ago. Now the roles were reversed. Fendros would not let Meesei go unsupported.

Janius watched on through his own tears. He could see Fendros' face over Meesei's shoulder with his jaw clenched tight and his eyes stern and unnaturally calm. It was amazing in a strange way that he was not in a similar state to the rest of them.

[EliteCommander]

Arinette was not impressed by Sabine's answer, as evidenced by the fact that she struck Sabine again, this time by jamming her knee into Sabine's ribs. "You expect me to believe that, dog? You arrive with Dwemer machines, and enough soldiers to capture a castle, but you did not plan to attack us? Do not lie to me."

In the midst of Arinette's interrogation, if Sabine was able to concentrate on him for a moment, she might notice Yerig looking around uncomfortably, particularly upon the mention of the lycans' intentions. He had his hand over one of the larger pouches on his side. If the book had been planted, and he had noticed it, then he would have at least a solid guess as to their intentions. However, he did not seem to be inclined to bring that information to Arinette's attention.

Arinette looked like she was inclined to continue the beating before Do'rhajul grabbed her arm to stop her. "I appreciate the need to interrogate our prisoner, but we have more pressing matters at the moment. We need to make sure we are secure in this location, and set up our camp once more. We can see what we can extract from her tomorrow."

"Fine." Arinette answered, practically growling in her tone. "Orcs, search her and get her secured. We'll watch her tonight in shifts. If you packed our supplies properly, there should be manacles in that tent."

Sabine was spared an outright beating for the moment, but the Orcs were hardly gentle in searching her. Any slight hint of resistance was rewarded with a fresh bruise. They stripped her down to nothing, then chained her to a large tree within sight of the campfire one of the others set up, but too far to receive any of its warmth. With neither fire nor clothing to keep her warm, the chilly night air would make for an uncomfortable night, before even considering the fact that she was also chained to a tree. The irons around her wrist were enchanted to drain magicka from the wearer, which would make any spellcasting attempts problematic.

After about an hour, the rest of the camp looked like they were ready to get some rest for what was left of the night, but Arinette decided to pay one last visit to Sabine before retiring to her own bedroll. "Before I get some well-deserved sleep, I have a few words of warning for you, Sabine. Our...esteemed guest. You do not know it yet, but you are an incredibly lucky soul. You see, while your head would certainly be a prize, it is nothing compared to your Champion. And because I am an exceedingly merciful individual, I am prepared to let you live if you can ensure I can get the prize I truly want. Of course, if you refuse, then I can also cause you more suffering than most beings will ever experience in a lifetime. Trust me, I am a very creative torturer, especially with this staff's power at my command. I want you to think about that tonight. Think about all of the ways that you can imagine I can hurt you, then realize that there are many more that you cannot even imagine. Think about that, then realize that it can all be avoided if you submit to me. Oh, and if you get it in your head that you might be able to transform and break out of those binds, I want you to also realize something interesting we discovered. That antidote you made for our soul-tearing gas? Well, it does not work on the old suppression gas. All of us here are armed with several bottles of that gas, so your beast form will be about as useless as your magic. Now, get some rest. It shall be a long day tomorrow."

With those sinister words, Arinette walked away, paying no mind to anything Sabine might have said afterwards.

---

Meesei's anger was not directed at Fendros, and for the most part, she was ignoring him until he suddenly stopped her in her tracks with his embrace. Her eyes remained affixed on Ahnasha, but with his compassion, that anger started to soften. The raw magical power pulsing through her body, which even Fendros would have been able to feel, began to die down. Eventually, it was only her pain that overtook her. Her entire weight fell onto Fendros, emotionally and physically, as she descended into tears.

Ahnasha was still in shock, even if she was no longer being directly threatened. She also knew that it made little sense to blame herself for what happened, but Meesei's accusation had caused her to do it all the same. "I...I'm sorry. It just all happened so fast, but...I tried. Sabine gave me the signal to retreat, to run away. I ignored it, tried to find a good angle with my bow, but they were already on top of her. I...didn't know what to do."

Although Fendros would not be able to see it, Meesei's eyes suddenly widened. She practically shoved Fendros aside to get out of his grasp and started to rush at Ahnasha, not because of anger, but because she had been given a shred of hope to which she could attach. "Of course! The ring!" She shouted. Rather forcefully, she grabbed Ahnasha's hand and pulled the ring off of Ahnasha's finger. "It's enchanted like the one I put in Harriet. It's connected to Sabine's. I can...track her down."

Meesei placed all of her effort into concentrating on the ring's enchantment. She stared in silence at the glowing ring, but unfortunately, as the seconds passed into minutes, her expression grew more and more desperate. "I cannot feel it. The range on this one is not limitless; she must be too far away."

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine was already shaking before she was searched and restrained. She had thought Arinette would continue her violence. She then only had accidental shivers elicit strikes from the Orc twins, even though she did not resist. When they left her pitiful against a tree, she drew up her knees as close to her chest as she could. Her shivering quickly drew from the cold as much as from the fear.

The entire hour that Do'Rhajul's team took to settle in, Sabine sat shivering and staring at her knees. No amount of that time had made her tired or calm. If anything, the healing bruises on her torso were just beginning to hurt, making breathing even harder.

Arinette's approach made Sabine cringe and hold her eyes shut. She tensed up and waited for whatever suffering she had in store. Somehow, only having the words to deal with escalated the fear more than opening up with punches. Sabine had no idea what was coming or when it would come. She barely even processed what Arinette was saying.

What Arinette said drew Sabine back to old memories. Memories of the silver cage and the endless antidote experiments. The way her beast spirit and her would torture each other at the behest of the alchemy forced into her. Ariel's face was a blur. Sabine could not imagine anything worse than what happened in the Vos coven. But she did feel like a helpless, emaciated, and terrified little girl again.

Mention of Meesei was one thing that kept her warm. That made her eyes burn.

"She is my mother," Sabine whimpered, not realising she had said it out loud until she opened her eyes and saw the back of Arinette's feet walking away.

Sabine let her forehead fall onto her knees and she quietly wept. Between the fear, the cold, and the pain, she could not sleep if she tried.

---

Fendros' gesture had the intended effect. However, the moment was shorter-lived than he expected. The ring was a small amount of good news that they needed.

Even if Meesei could not immediately locate Sabine's ring, she gave him an idea. He was still neutral in his tone, if more energetic. "I would not give up just yet. If that ring is powerful enough to detect the other over a distance, it improves our chances. Do we have a map of the High Rock region?"

Fendros continued whether they could use a map or not. "Consider the distance between here and the last place we fought and forced them to disappear, those weeks ago. We know little about the limits of their magic, but we may be able to take a guess to narrow down the total area they may have gone to. It is likely to be any distance in radius around this point..." he pointed to the ground. "...to the point we were ambushed before. We can use the ring to sweep larger areas while others search conventionally beyond the ring's range. It is our best chance."

[EliteCommander]

"That could work. We might also try asking Marcaille." Ahnasha suggested. "She mentioned rituals that can track people. Using that shield we recovered or, well, anything in this camp. I'm sure there's a lot here that belonged to them."

Meesei took another long breath in and out, clutching the ring tightly in both hands. "We are going to do exactly that. We are going to do both. We are going to do everything, and I mean everything to find her. I don't care if I have to mobilize every single warrior, scout, and spy we have in High Rock. All of Tamriel even. We are going to find Sabine, and we are going to make them regret every single cut and bruise she has a hundredfold."

Meesei spoke with a fiery, unbreakable determination. To her pack, it would not be a surprise the lengths she would go to in order to help Sabine. Although, her dedication could potentially be harmful. She was going to order every person and resource she could get her hands on to help in the search, and anyone who might protest her orders would be met with the unchained wrath of a desperate mother. For the moment, she started to create a portal back to Blackreach. She had orders to give.

---

There were not too many hours left in the night, but whether she slept or not, Sabine would be able to notice something interesting by morning. Her wrist irons had been enchanted to drain her magicka, but she would not feel quite as magically "empty" as she might have expected. The manacles drained her magicka, but not quite fast enough to fully overtake the deep connection that she had to her magical energies. It seemed as if the enchantment was not made strong enough to completely drain a mage of her strength. With the magicka she had, she would be able to manage a single, reasonably powerful spell. However, it would, of course, take quite a while for it to recover. That spell, if she decided to cast it, would have to be made to count.

It was somewhat later in the morning when the camp finally awoke, apart from the Redguard, who had been given the last watch. They all took their time having their breakfast; mostly mutton, by the aromas that reached Sabine's nose. They spoke for a while among themselves, out of earshot of Sabine, until they were finally ready to deal with her. Four of them approached her: Arinette, Do'rhajul, and the two Orcs. All of them were fully armed and equipped this time, likely as a precaution against any surprise attacks.

Arinette was the first to speak. "Did you have a good rest? No, don't bother, I have only one question for you right now. The only one that matters. You have had plenty of time to think, so I am giving you this one chance to answer correctly. My quarry is the Champion of Hircine. In exchange for your life, will you give me all of the information and aid you can to allow me to kill her?"

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine could not tell whether she was able to get any sleep at all through the cold night. She could not get any more comfortable -- not even to lay down on her side -- courtesy of her restraints. She felt as if she was going to throw up when she heard her interrogators approaching.

She slowly lifted her tired head. She didn't look up far enough to look at Arinette's eyes. "Why do you want to kill her? Why are you being so horrid?" she said. Some determination seeped through, even if it was through biting cold and anticipation of punishment.

[EliteCommander]

"That is not an answer!" Arinette said just before kicking Sabine in the side. "And I should think it obvious. The death of your leader is more impactful than the death of an underling. Your plans to spread your curse in Tamriel will fail regardless, of course, but we intend to make that happen as painlessly as possible. Really, the death of your Champion would be a mercy to all of your...friends. The sooner your cause falls apart, the fewer of them we have to kill. Accept my offer and you not only get to live, but you get to save some of your friends. Now, answer me, or I shall assume that I am going to need to force you to answer."

Arinette dropped a large leather bag at her side. "And I do have all of the tools to make that happen."